Welcome to our forums!
This online gardening community is different, political, and organic. I decided to start these forums so gardeners would have a free place to discuss heirloom gardening, gene-altered food, seed saving, natural politics and products. We are dedicated to saving our food and horticultural heritage, and hope you enjoy this forum for the free-thinking gardener!
Wishing you great gardening,

Went to the yellow squash plants the other day to pick the day's ripe ones.
Reached down and found one covered with a small swarm of bugs with vivd red bodies and spindly black legs...looked like big ants sort of, but were not. They moved quick and stayed in a mass for the most part. I shook them off into a can of water and gave that a good shake.
I am sure some got away though.

Anyone have any idea what these are and what to do about them? Never seen them before.

__________________
Lord, let me be the kind of man that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, "Oh no! He's up!"

Don't take a good woman for granted. Someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't.

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We are no longer in a battle of political ideologies; we are in a battle for survival." - Ms. Hill, homemaker and mother of 3; Anderson County Tea Party, July 10, 2009

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/hfrr/extens...s/squashbg.htm
What you saw was an "orgy" of what I not so lovingly refer to as "censored" squash bugs! KILL every one you find, check the top and bottom of EACH leaf on every plant at least every other day - when you find a reddish cluster of pinhead sized balls - SQUISH these as they are the eggs of the next generation of pests. Squash bugs like to hide in mulch during the day,but you can also place a short wooden board next to each plant in the evening where the bugs will hide underneath during the night - check under the boards each morning using your choice of weapons of mass destruction to decimate the assembled hordes. You can also try mixing 1/4 cup of DE (diatomaceous earth) to 1 gallon of water, use your sprayer and lightly coat each squash leaf - repeat after each rain (something I vaguely remember falling from the sky, but the memory is fading fast). Good luck and Happy Bug Hunting!

Hikingonthru, I think they might be Assassin bug or Wheel bug nymphs, especially if they are in a cluster. Both are beneficial insects and predators of things that might truly hurt your squash. That's what they sound like to me, any how.

Here's a link; scroll on down the page and there's a picture of one on the right. They do look like red ants and they like to cluster together. They are interesting to watch.

I have an amazing quantity and assortment of assassin's this year....
they are so ugly their pretty....and scarey when they are staring ya down....

__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]"These crops were considered to be special gifts from Great Spirit and were believed to be protected by the THREE SISTERS—spirits collectively called the De-o-ha-ko, meaning "our sustainers" or "those who support us"

I WISH they were assassin bugs...Nope, just vivd red and ugly bugs...they were doing a sort of dance of rapture today along the same plant (thort I got most all of them, oh well).

Got to do some more hunting!

Now, these may be a form of squash bug? The squash bugs I commonly know are dull gray-brown, have a sort of flat body, and love to back up to one another and "hook up" in a blatantly open display of attraction...just right out there for all the world around my garden to see!

__________________
Lord, let me be the kind of man that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, "Oh no! He's up!"

Don't take a good woman for granted. Someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't.

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We are no longer in a battle of political ideologies; we are in a battle for survival." - Ms. Hill, homemaker and mother of 3; Anderson County Tea Party, July 10, 2009

Ihave this one flower..I TINK its a volunteer gerber daisy plant from last year....all along its stem these tiny red bugs with black legs as you discribe stay there...just there....sometimes they pulsate in kind of a wave...

since they stay to that flower...Ihave left them and the flower...I thought they might be some sort of aphid????

anyway...for now..I have left it as it is....they seem to be quite content there....and I am so...as long as they stay there and do no real damage....

it is a spot that lastyear was the domain of many garden spidys..so I am thinking....I will try to alow nature to take care of itself....there....
but I am prepared to "take out" the flower with the bugs..if they get greedy...lol

__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]"These crops were considered to be special gifts from Great Spirit and were believed to be protected by the THREE SISTERS—spirits collectively called the De-o-ha-ko, meaning "our sustainers" or "those who support us"

I wonder if they are Box Elder bugs-- right now I have them all over one side of the house.. they will molt soon and get bigger and have a few black spots on them-- they don't seem to bother the plants but are creepy to touch.. they look like large red silk mites with little black legs. I may have to do a google search and see what they are up to.

cool site EM...
but I think mine are way tineier.....they jsut stay in that one spot on the one flower....its tooo funny

__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]"These crops were considered to be special gifts from Great Spirit and were believed to be protected by the THREE SISTERS—spirits collectively called the De-o-ha-ko, meaning "our sustainers" or "those who support us"

Hikingonthru, I think they might be Assassin bug or Wheel bug nymphs, especially if they are in a cluster. Both are beneficial insects and predators of things that might truly hurt your squash. That's what they sound like to me, any how.

Here's a link; scroll on down the page and there's a picture of one on the right. They do look like red ants and they like to cluster together. They are interesting to watch.

Thanks for the link, I was wondering what those red ones were. They didn't seem to be hurting anything so I didn't bother them, now I'm glad I didn't.

__________________Share what you grow with others and you shall feed them for a short time. Give them seed and teach them how to plant and grow it they shall feed themselves for a season. Teach them how to save seed from what they grow and they shall feed themselves for life.

Well, the verdict is in...it is squash bugs. I went away for a couple days and they have invaded the "mystery squash" vine now. I saw ones in "juvenile" state and they looked like reddish small versions of the adults. They pop with finger pressure and even with a strong blast from the hose some perish.

Went to Lowe's for D.E. and for the first time they did not have it. Due to time constraints, I got an organic insecticide/fungicide made of sesame oil, edible fish oils, and - I think - flour.
Don't know whether to use it to kill bugs or to make southeast asian cuisine!

Gonna try the board trick and drown the little buggers. Gonna find me one of those old "Immersion blenders" at a yard sale and start making bug puree insecticide with the previous victims!

So to those of you who guessed "squash bugs" - you were right! (Too bad for my yellow squash plants, we were not in time!)

__________________
Lord, let me be the kind of man that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, "Oh no! He's up!"

Don't take a good woman for granted. Someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't.

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We are no longer in a battle of political ideologies; we are in a battle for survival." - Ms. Hill, homemaker and mother of 3; Anderson County Tea Party, July 10, 2009

I have been having squash bug problems, but may have fouynd some help from the USPS.

I have modified some priority boxes for mailing before and cut off various sections, etc., and had some of the pre=sticky strips. I pulled the covering strip off and out to the garden I went- slow flipping each and eavery leaf around, but I filled up a 10 inch long by 2 inch or so wide sticky with squash bugs, nymphs and lots of eggs!

I always had saved my cut off pieces from boxes for extra protection on the books I sell and ship, and had a few of the sticky strips still left over- what a great way to use them! I still had to take a small rock and smush the bigger bugs stuck firmly to the strip, but it sure beats touching them !

Well, the spray - from OMI - is only partially effective. It really does work on the very small squash bug nymphs when they are ant size and I am hoping on the eggs as well. It is an oil base so I am guessing it smothers them? The juveniles and adults are not killed but it does sort of make them drunk for a bit so picking them is easy. I have a white milk jug I dump them in and then let them roast in the sun. I guess I am mean like that.

This stuff is supposed to be good for fungi and scale and thrips and whiteflies and all manner of stuff. It does smell bad like fish emulsion and I would give anything in the squash cucurbit family several days before I ate it and then would wash it really really well.

I did notice that my white cushaw, which is entwined with the mystery squash, is little bothered by the squash bugs. I saw one little red critter on a cushaw leaf and he looked like he was trying to get directions back to the rest of his group.

__________________
Lord, let me be the kind of man that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says, "Oh no! He's up!"

Don't take a good woman for granted. Someone will come along and appreciate what you didn't.

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We are no longer in a battle of political ideologies; we are in a battle for survival." - Ms. Hill, homemaker and mother of 3; Anderson County Tea Party, July 10, 2009

I know that squash bugs are less interested in c. moschata varieties than c. pepo and c. maxima. Maybe your c. mixta Cushaws are also not as appealing?

I use a combination strategy for Squash Bugs:

1) Pull the egg clusters off the leaves with Duct Tape and throw away.

2) Spray the nymphs with a pepper/garlic/oil spray. They're toast within an hour.

3) Hand pick and squish the adults. They're notoriously resistant to insecticide sprays. Flood the base of the plant with a good stream of water first. All the ones hiding under the base of the plant will run up the nearest leaf stalk and be easy pickings.

Early in the season I'm hand-picking every few days. Later in the season I'm doing all three steps once every week or two. Since I started I've managed to prevent them from doing any major damage.